My SOA

debtfree_wannabe

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 533
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 30
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 27
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 13
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 36
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 2
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 40
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1298


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 103000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 79000....(533)......5.6
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 400......(30).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 79400.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin.........................10306.....250.......22 Limit - £10,700
Nationwide.....................2306......50........0 Limit - £3,200
Egg............................2584......60........20 Limit - £3,550
Lloyds.........................275.......7.........19.1 Limit - £700
Post Office....................1923......50........16.9 Limit - £2,800
Tesco..........................2024......40........16.8 Limit - £2,100
Total unsecured debts..........19418.....457.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,298
Available for debt repayments........... 1,402
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 457
Amount left after debt repayments....... 945

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 103,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -79,400
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,418
Net Assets.............................. 4,182

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.


I know this isn't a completely realistic reflection, as it takes into account "joint" spending, whereas my debts are soley mine.

My OH and I both contribute a similar amount to the joint account each month which covers the mortgage, groceries, utility bills etc.

Motoring costs are paid for individually, and although we share our cars, I pay for mine, and my OH pays for his, even down to fuel.
We both have to commute to work by car, there is no public transport option for my OH due to the hours and days that he works. I car share when I can.

I pay for my pets (2 rabbits) myself, one of which has to have regular treatment which my vet does subsidise me for as I'm a frequent visitor.

My OH is undergoing tests for an illness that he has suffered from for many years now which frequently (every 6 weeks ish) causes him to have at least one day off work. He does not get paid for this, and we are just grateful at the moment that he has not been given the boot as a result of it. We are pushing for all available tests and treatments on the NHS and have been for some time, but have yet to get to the bottom of it.

As we both work, and own our own home with no children, I don't believe we're entitled to any benefits.

I know that my biggest downfall was my first ever credit card when I was a teenager, I just viewed it naively as free money.
My virgin card originally had a 15k limit, and it never occurred to me that when my 0% offers ran out then I would struggle to find another card (Not MBNA) that would give me a big enough limit to take it all on.

I fear that I'm now in a position where my credit rating has plumetted to make loan options and 0% balance transfers limited as a reliable payment alternative.

My OH has no credit cards or loans, and I wont let him! I have learnt the hard way. My debts are just shy of 20k, but I want to make proper inroads to reducing them.

I don't tend to spend a lot of money on clothes etc, most of the time I'm happy to pick up anything I need from the supermarket rather than going to big department stores.

I try to make sure I shop around for insurances and utilities, I am selling anything I can on ebay / music magpie etc, but when debts are in the K's it's difficult to find a few pounds motivational.

I also do Body Shop parties, but am thinking of giving it up as I don't believe I have truly made a lot of £ from it in the last 12 months, and it's difficult to know if I'm spending out more or the same as what I'm earning a lot of the time.

I'm stuck for ideas. I know all the theory and am always suggesting money saving ideas to friends, but putting them into practise myself is another matter!

I'm just so deflated by it all, and need to stop burying my head in the sand....

RAS

So, if you have just shy of £1000 left each month, why is the debt not decreasing by that sort of amount each month? Does your SOA really represent the situation?

Secondly, please can you hit the edit button and list next to each credit card the maximum amount.

CH27

You have over £900 per month available to pay those debts off.
Start by paying big chunks of the card that charges the highest interest, then move on to the next.

If you pay £700 per month between now & xmas you will have reduced your debt by £7700.

debtfree_wannabe

RAS wrote: »

So, if you have just shy of £1000 left each month, why is the debt not decreasing by that sort of amount each month? Does your SOA really represent the situation?

Secondly, please can you hit the edit button and list next to each credit card the maximum amount.

Have done this now, sorry I didn't realise I needed to do this. Maybe I should edit the SOA to only reflect my income, and my contributions to joint occurences. I'm a bit new to all this, which is maybe why I couldn't get it to make sense.

My debts are mine, and mine alone, so only my income contributes to paying them off. But I still commit to contributing to 47% of our overall "joint" expenditures.

As long as my OH contributes to our joint payments, the rest of his money is his to do with what he likes/ needs.

debtfree_wannabe

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 560
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10
Internet Services....................... 13
Groceries etc. ......................... 10
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 2.7
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 2
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 40
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 834.7


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 50000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 53000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Virgin.........................10306.....250...... .22 Limit - £10,700
Nationwide.....................2306......50....... .0 Limit - £3,200
Egg............................2584......60....... .20 Limit - £3,550
Lloyds.........................275.......7........ .19.1 Limit - £700
Post Office....................1923......50........16.9 Limit - £2,800
Tesco..........................2024......40....... .16.8 Limit - £2,100
Total unsecured debts..........19418.....457.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 834.7
Available for debt repayments........... 365.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 457
Amount short for making debt repayments. -91.7

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 53,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,418
Net Assets.............................. 33,582

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.[/B]


I have amended it slightly to take out my partners income, and just show what I have coming in and going out. My contributions to "joint expenditures! are shown as "rent".

Sorry, for any confusion, I'm a bit new to this!

rugbychick81

Whoops ... this is the same SOA!

RAS

Hi
Adding the limits is not a requirement but beofre you even snowball it is worth seeing if you can juggle your money to move your debt to the lower rated cards.

First plug your exisitng debts into the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com and snowball them.

debtfree_wannabe wrote: »

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin.........................10306.....250.......22 Limit - £10,700 - this is your most expensive debt. if you can transfer any of the debt to lower priced cards, do it Nationwide.....................2306......50........0 Limit - £3,200 - will assume this is a balance transfer on which you cannot spend?
Egg............................2584......60........20 Limit - £3,550 only 2% but nearly £1000, so do this next
Lloyds.........................275.......7.........19.1 Limit - £700 - Only £400 spare but worth it
Post Office....................1923......50........16.9 Limit - £2,800 - if you can spend on this, then you have £900 spare capacity - this is your priority.
Tesco..........................2024......40........16.8 Limit - £2,100
Total unsecured debts..........19418.....457.......-

Now rerun the same amount of debt through the snowball, shifting that £2300 to lower rate cards.

What happens?

Ok

You cannot ask them to balance transfer this, but you can make all your petrol purchases on the low rate card, and immediately pay exactly the same amount towards the high interest rate card. Over time that moves expensive money to cheaper cards.

It requires a lot of discipline but could save you quite a lot over time.

Once you get the hang of it, it will be worth moving quite small amount across (say £10-£20) to take advantage of the lower rates.

debtfree_wannabe

RAS wrote: »

Hi
Adding the limits is not a requirement but beofre you even snowball it is worth seeing if you can juggle your money to move your debt to the lower rated cards.

First plug your exisitng debts into the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com and snowball them.



Now rerun the same amount of debt through the snowball, shifting that £2300 to lower rate cards.

What happens?

Ok

You cannot ask them to balance transfer this, but you can make all your petrol purchases on the low rate card, and immediately pay exactly the same amount towards the high interest rate card. Over time that moves expensive money to cheaper cards.

It requires a lot of discipline but could save you quite a lot over time.

Once you get the hang of it, it will be worth moving quite small amount across (say £10-£20) to take advantage of the lower rates.

I'd not thought of doing it like that. At the moment I am making a fixed payment of £100 to my Nationwide card to make the most of my 0% BT.

I am also making an extra £75 payment to my virgin card on top of the minimum payment, but I feel this is tipping me over the edge!

My Lloyds card I have fixed £25 standing order set up, but could make this lower as I guess every penny counts.

I should also add that my Egg card is effectively "closed" as they wanted to put up my APR % and I refused it, so it's just a balance to pay off, not anything I can add more to.

CH27

You say the debt is yours alone. Did you not spend any of the money on the house or food for you both?

Your finances are either fully joint or totally seperate not a mix for a SOA as that is misleading.
You need to do one that shows your income & your outgoings.

debtfree_wannabe

CH27 wrote: »

You say the debt is yours alone. Did you not spend any of the money on the house or food for you both?

Your finances are either fully joint or totally seperate not a mix.

A lot of my debts I had before we got the house 2 years ago. One of the main problems behind them escalating was my Virgin MBNA card having a high limit, and therefore most of my debt. Thus ruling out an awful lot of other cards (all owned by MBNA) to do balance transfers to at 0%. So I ended up leaving them after the 0% deals ran out without moving the debt across to other cards.

When redecorating or buying things/groceries for the house, we pay for them from the joint account. Our contributions to this account each month cover all of our bills and any small amounts left over / council tax, water rates breaks / rebates on utility bills / monetary gifts for xmas, birthdays etc add up to allow us to buy things for the house

CH27

debtfree_wannabe wrote: »

A lot of my debts I had before we got the house 2 years ago. One of the main problems behind them escalating was my Virgin MBNA card having a high limit, and therefore most of my debt. Thus ruling out an awful lot of other cards (all owned by MBNA) to do balance transfers to at 0%. So I ended up leaving them after the 0% deals ran out without moving the debt across to other cards.

When redecorating or buying things/groceries for the house, we pay for them from the joint account. Our contributions to this account each month cover all of our bills and any small amounts left over / council tax, water rates breaks / rebates on utility bills / monetary gifts for xmas, birthdays etc add up to allow us to buy things for the house

You didn't quote my full post. As I said you need to do a SOA showng just your income, outgoings & debts.